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Comment by tristanj | Hacker News Reader

I have a controversial take: outside the US/Europe, Uber is mostly a tourist app.

If you actually live in developing regions:

1) your income is much lower, and you are quite price sensitive. The Uber price premium (20-40%) hits much harder.

2) the Uber alternatives are noticeably cheaper for the exact same trip.

Regarding your experience, if you were local, that inDrive driver likely would not have tried to extort $1000 MXN out of you. They saw you were a visitor and took advantage of you.

In Nigeria or Uganda there are few tourists, so Uber cannot rely on a stream of price-insensitive travelers to fill their cars. It makes total sense why they struggled in (and gave up on) the local market there.

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My experience in Brazil: Uber is way cheaper here. Compared to what I paid in San Francisco, I'd estimate a ~10x difference. And things here are rarely 10x cheaper. The difference in restaurants is probably less than ~2x.

My point being it probably feels like less of a luxury for us than for people in the US.

I'd say it's probably the most popular app too. I've never met people who used others.

99 is quite popular in Brazil, and is often cheaper, but Uber does seem ubiquitous there and is the leader.

This was my experience using Uber in India many years ago. Rides around Hyderabad were like $2 USD.

Uber isn't cheaper in India, but most people in urban areas prefer taking it over local alternatives or taxis. The cars are actually regular taxis, but the Uber tax is worth it over taxis for the convenience and potential safety/driver verification.

Uber in Ghana has fares that are not much higher than the others. In fact, many times Uber is cheaper. Not sure about Nigeria or Uganda though.

And they even have a motorcycle ride option that is even cheaper.

And, although Uber Ghana was noticeably more professional when they started, they have relaxed their standards so much in recent years. They are still a tad better than the others, but many drives flit between them and other ride-share companies. A driver does not suddenly become better because they happen to be driving for Uber, although I concede they might u their game based on what is expected of them.

In Kenya it’s not just a tourist app. Very popular and well priced here.

Your take isn't controversial, it's just wrong. And you seem to be implying everywhere outside of USA and Europe is a developing region?

You claim it's wrong, yet don't bother to justify your position at all.

I've ridden on Uber, Lyft, Bolt, Grab, inDrive, Careem, Yandex Go, Gojek, DiDi, Kakao T; and in my experience, outside the US/Europe (plus a few others), Uber is mostly for tourists. The alternatives are cheaper.

> implying everywhere outside of USA and Europe is a developing region

I'm not doing so at all. Those are separate sentences.

FYI the ones you named include ones priced exactly the same as Uber. Uber doesn't take the same cut in every country.

I'm fully aware that Lyft, Careem, and Kakao T are on my list. But that doesn't change the fact that in every region I've been to, Uber is always the most expensive option. Or it's tied for the highest price, in duopoly markets like the US/Canada.

The competitors inDrive, Bolt, or Yango almost always beat Uber on price.

This too isn't true. Most of the services you listed only operate in one (or at most a small few) countries. I know for a fact that in some of them, Uber is not the highest price. Instead, in some of them, Uber and the ones you listed are tied for the lowest price, with other local apps being more expensive.

You're misinforming here, giving bold statements based on not spending enough time in some of these countries, not knowing the local market well enough.

You didn't actually name any of the countries or local apps you're referring to. What are they?

Lyft, DiDi, Bolt difference is about 0 in most locales. KakaoT is by definition 0. Your list is wildly outdated in the first place because half of them don't have Uber as competitor anymore because it left the market.

In the above cases where the difference is about 0, both Uber and the other app are generally the cheapest ones on the market. There tend to be other slightly more upmarket apps that cost more but get you a nicer car/service. Cabify, IM. Waymo is moving into this. Obviously I'm not super familiar with every single market but clearly neither are you, and I know the above ones.

Lol even after 6 days you haven't posted any supporting information, so who's misinforming here? :)

I now did, so they were. Sue me for having a semblance of a life outside of HN.

Too late for that!

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